What's that ?

People, Places, Things and events

 Keeping our centre nice and clean is a big job, we always send the children outside or to another room to play while we vacuum and mop the floors.  But I always seem to have a little helper who sneaks away from the rest of the children to give me a hand.  He watches me while I vacuum and mop the floor; he moves the bucket of warm soapy water around the room and often spills some over the top. He always helps me bring the bikes inside the door and he rides them in and parks them exactly where they are meant to be. He waits while I close the windows and we usually go outside to play again. He doesn’t speak much unless he wants to say something important or meaningful to others. The other day after I vacuumed I thought I would change the bag and when J saw the vacuum cleaner in two halves he pointed at it and said `look.’  He walked up and investigated the vacuum cleaner, “what’s that” he asked. That’s where all the mess goes when the vacuum cleaner sucks it up. J was surprised that the vacuum cleaner was in two pieces and he didn’t like the look of the full bag. At first he just stared at it and then he seemed a bit weary of it.  I told J `don’t worry it won’t bite you.’ He pointed at the vacuum cleaner again and said `look’ he didn’t like it being in two.  He watched me carefully when I took the full bag out and put a new bag in.  His friend D came over and asked me `what did you put in the vacuum cleaner Mavis,’ that’s a new bag to hold all the mess we make each day.’ After they had investigated the vacuum cleaner we turned it on to make sure it would start up, they were satified and D went away to play and J stayed to help me mop the floor.  I asked him `do you help mummy mop the floor’  he just looked up at me and grabed the mop. Te Whāriki, says “Adults should be are aware that all happenings have the potential for play and learning” (Ministry of Education, 1996, p. 85).  He laughed out loud, I showed him a stain on the floor and he mopped it.  `J’ does not speak as well as he could for his age and it was important to us to share experiences with him and to be able to observe and communicate with him “observing and listening in to Information, communication and Technology practices includes watching adults and other children using ICT for a range of purposes” Ministry of Education, 2004, p.5).                                 

 J enjoyed helping me and he smiled and laughed when I vacuumed the floor because he could see all the sand and bits of paper get sucked right up the pipe. When I let him have a turn I was empowering him, he felt good about himself and he felt positive about his relationship with me, although he wasn’t meant to be vacuuming.  “To empower children, staff must be committed to creating a more just social world through transferring power from more powerful groups to less powerful groups” mentions “MacNaughton & Williams, 2004, 279).  J has learned that the vacuum cleaner has suction and he knows how all the sand and other stuff get’s sucked inside to the bag.

“These play experiences are very valuable for young investigators. Through their play, they often consolidate and make deeper and more accurate sense of their experiences and related concepts” (Helm & Katz, 2001, p. 56).  Children like to join in with teachers when it comes to cleaning the centre.  We packed the vacuum cleaner away and extended our cleaning game with two brooms, and swept the sand back into the sand pit.

Reference.

Helm, J., & Katz, L. (2001).   Young investigators the project approach in early years. New York: Teachers College Press.

MacNaughton , G., & Williams, G. (2004). Techniques for teaching young children: Choices in theory and practice (2^nd ed.). Frenchs Forrest NSW:  Pearson Prentice Hall.

Ministry of Education. (1996). Te Whāriki: He Whāriki mātaurangi mō ngā   mōkopuna o Aotearoa.  Wellington: Learning Media.

Ministry of Education. (2004). Kei tua o pae: Assessment for learning: Early childhood exemplars. Wellington: Learning Media.